Chapter 87: Spreading Rumors

The rumor came suddenly and was extremely puzzling. Originally, Gu Jin Yi and the coach planned to ignore it and let it pass with time.

However, for some unknown reason, this rumor directly shot to the top of the hot search list, surpassing many celebrities. It hung high in the first column, and even those who didn’t care about the sports circle began to quietly follow the gossip. Although they remembered the name Gu Jin Yi, they subconsciously equated him with being a ‘third party’.

It was only then that Gu Jin Yi and the coach began to worry. They tried to explain online, but no one would listen to them.

As the rumors intensified, Gu Jin Yi, the victim, was anxiously pacing in the rest room, sitting with the coach to discuss solutions. Suddenly, a man burst in and, without a word, grabbed Gu Jin Yi’s hair and started beating him.

The coach pulled at the frenzied man: “Don’t hit him, don’t hit him.”

The man continued to hit and curse: “Well well, you’re even helping him! What they said online is true after all. I thought you were working hard every day, but you were actually here with your lover!”

The man’s shouts attracted other team members. A group of young men stood at the door watching Gu Jin Yi being beaten, their eyes complex, but none dared to step forward to help him.

Everyone had been saying that Gu Jin Yi and the coach had an ambiguous relationship. The team members were afraid that if they went to help him, they would also be labeled as ‘birds of a feather’. Only one or two players who were usually close to Gu Jin Yi prepared to step forward to mediate.

“It’s all nonsense from outsiders. There’s really nothing between Jin Yi and me, just a normal coach-player relationship,” the coach said helplessly.

The man snorted, grabbing Gu Jin Yi’s hair, and sneered, “Jin Yi? How intimate! No wonder this little slut’s popularity has grown so fast lately, it’s all fame gained through sleeping around, isn’t it!”

Upon hearing this, the teammates who were originally prepared to help Gu Jin Yi looked at each other.

Gu Jin Yi had been too prominent lately. At every match, more than half of the fans were Gu Jin Yi’s. Even though he was the latest to join the team, his fame was greater than these veteran players.

The players originally thought nothing of it, but the man’s words just now planted a seed of doubt in everyone’s mind. Perhaps those online rumors were all true? Perhaps everything Gu Jin Yi had gained now was through underhanded means?

Even if it wasn’t, if he left the team because of this scandal, wouldn’t the others have a chance to rise and divide his fans?

Thinking this way, the teammates who were prepared to mediate withdrew their hands and retreated to the back, silently watching Gu Jin Yi being pinned down and beaten, their eyes jealous and greedy.

Gu Jin Yi was thus beaten in front of everyone. His beautiful face swelled with red handprints. Never having suffered such humiliation before, tears welled up in his eyes, and he ran home crying.

Cloud Water Bay.

Rong Xiu was in a good mood as he fiddled with the smoke-gray poppies that had just been air-freighted. After reviving the flowers, he trimmed the stems and inserted them into a vase. The slender flower stems supported the vibrantly blooming smoke-gray poppies, their petals delicate and pale purple-gray-blue, like a dream.

He carried the vase full of smoke-gray poppies slowly up to the second floor. While Fan Xia was still asleep, he gently placed it on the bedside table.

The bedroom curtains were closed, with a few strands of winter light penetrating through the gaps. They passed through the pale purple petals of the smoke-gray poppies, making even the delicate veins clearly visible, dyeing the sunlight. The layered pale purple flower shadows fell on Fan Xia’s peaceful sleeping face.

Rong Xiu’s lips curved silently. He supported his increasingly heavy belly, kneeling on the soft carpet beside the bed, and took her hand that was hanging off the edge of the bed, gently biting her fingertip.

Fan Xia’s eyelashes, as dense as silk tree flowers, fluttered, and she opened her sleepy eyes. Seeing Rong Xiu by the bed, she smiled and sat up: “Why are you up so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep anymore,” Rong Xiu said.

Fan Xia propped herself up and leaned on the edge of the bed, helping Rong Xiu, who was kneeling on the ground, to sit on the bed. Her warm palm gently rubbed his knees: “The ground is cold. Even though the carpet is thick, there’s still a chill. Don’t kneel on the ground in the future.”

Rong Xiu felt Fan Xia’s soft palm rubbing his knees, the warm temperature seeping through his skin. He obediently responded, “Okay. Breakfast is ready.”

“You made it?” Fan Xia looked up and asked.

Rong Xiu nodded, looking at her like a puppy waiting for praise.

Fan Xia put on an outer robe, her tone somewhat helpless: “Didn’t I tell you that your body is heavy now, you shouldn’t be cooking anymore?”

Rong Xiu’s eyes were as bright as a scattered pool of water mirrors: “Even being pregnant, I can still cook. It’s not tiring at all.”

How could making breakfast for Fan Xia be considered tiring? And he couldn’t sleep anyway.

Early in the morning, he received a message saying that Gu Jin Yi had been beaten by the coach’s husband. He was so happy that he couldn’t sleep at all.

The best way to ruin a man is to spread rumors about his sexual misconduct.

If Li Zhou and Gu Jin Yi dared to conspire against him, implying in front of Fan Xia that his body wasn’t clean, throwing dirty water on him. He dared to throw that dirty water back with interest, letting Gu Jin Yi taste the flavor of being stigmatized.

During breakfast, Rong Xiu recalled Gu Jin Yi’s beaten face from the attached image in the message, and couldn’t help but laugh. He wondered where Gu Jin Yi would hide to cry now?

Gu Jin Yi wore a mask and sunglasses, fleeing back to the neighborhood in a sorry state. Passing by the neighbors, he seemed to hear them pointing and whispering behind his back. He suddenly felt he had nowhere to hide, both painful and frightened as he knocked on the door.

Li Zhou saw Gu Jin Yi in this state and exclaimed in shock: “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Gu Jin Yi took off his sunglasses and mask, the handprint on his face still burning hot. He hugged Li Zhou and cried, letting out his emotions.

Li Zhou comforted the deeply hurt Gu Jin Yi while trying to get the story out of him, finally understanding the cause and effect of the incident.

He took out some ointment to treat Gu Jin Yi’s injuries, saying sorrowfully: “It must be your teammates jealous of you. Your fame is great, you have many fans, and you earn a lot, so they deliberately spread rumors about you, wanting to drive you away.”

Li Zhou thought and thought, and this seemed to be the most reasonable explanation. He didn’t even consider Rong Xiu, unable to imagine how Rong Xiu would drive Gu Jin Yi to the brink of death just because of a few words exchanged between men.

Gu Jin Yi thought about it, and it seemed this was the most reasonable explanation.

But he felt even more desperate: “But what can I do? I can’t find out who’s behind this mischief. Now everyone thinks I have something going on with the coach. How can I go back to the team in the future?”

Seeing Gu Jin Yi in tears, Li Zhou was heartbroken. He stroked his head and even cried himself: “My poor child, your bright future ruined by a baseless rumor. We don’t even know if you can stay in the team anymore… If you were married, if you had a woman to rely on, they would never dare treat you like this.”

This was also the reason why Li Zhou had always wanted to matchmake Gu Jin Yi with Fan Xia. No matter how successful a man is in society, how high his achievements, if he’s not married, if he doesn’t have a wife-master, he’s like a rootless duckweed, anyone can bully you.

Fan Xia…

Li Zhou wiped away a tear and said: “Jin Yi, go find Fan Xia now.”

“Sister Fan?” Gu Jin Yi’s eyes were brimming with tears as he lowered his head in self-deprecation: “I won’t go. My face is beaten like this, I don’t even dare to see people. How can I face Sister Fan? If Sister Fan finds out about those rumors outside, I… how can I live?”

Li Zhou looked at Gu Jin Yi’s swollen face and his red, rabbit-like eyes, and said firmly: “You must go now, let Fan Xia see how badly you’ve been bullied. Others might not believe you, but Fan Xia watched you grow up, how could she not believe you? Besides, she’s the boss of Shanhai Group now. Finding out who’s throwing dirt on you would just be a matter of lifting a finger for her.”

“I…” Gu Jin Yi still hesitated.

Li Zhou continued: “The way you look now, crying and pitiful, having been bullied to a dead end, any woman would feel compassion, and Fan Xia would be no exception.”

Gu Jin Yi was silent for a while: “Alright, I’ll go find Sister Fan right away.”

Li Zhou immediately said: “Good, I’ll call Fan Xia right now.”

“No,” Gu Jin Yi pressed Li Zhou’s hand: “Dad, don’t call Sister Fan.”

“Why? If we don’t call Fan Xia, how will she know you’re hurt?” Li Zhou asked.

Gu Jin Yi looked at the falling snow outside the window and said: “I want to go find her.”

“Find her?” Li Zhou said in surprise: “You don’t know where Fan Xia lives, and even if you did, don’t forget about Rong Xiu. If you go like this, with Rong Xiu’s sharp tongue, who knows how he’ll twist things.”

Gu Jin Yi wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes and said: “Of course I won’t go to Sister Fan’s home. I’ll go directly to her workplace.”

Going to Fan Xia’s home, with Rong Xiu constantly on guard against him, but the company is Fan Xia’s territory. Plus, with his current high online popularity, if people see him going to Shanhai Group to meet Fan Xia, wouldn’t they dig up the fact that he and Sister Fan grew up together? Wouldn’t they think that the person he’s really involved with isn’t the coach, but Sister Fan?

Since those people online love to watch drama so much, let them watch their fill.

It might even stimulate Rong Xiu. If he doesn’t make trouble with Sister Fan, then he’ll find a time to apologize in person, shifting all the blame onto the rumormongers. If Rong Xiu makes trouble with Sister Fan, that would be even better.

Rong Xiu needs to act like a shrew, only then would he have a chance to step up, right? After all, that’s how he dealt with Wen Lan Sheng back then.

Gu Jin Yi returned to his room and changed into a white outfit. The simple and clean attire made his skin appear even more snow-white and translucent, also making the red marks on half of his face seem even more severe, looking like a poor little thing who had been bullied.

He took a taxi to Shanhai Group and came to the first-floor reception.

Two receptionists politely bowed slightly and asked: “Hello sir, how may we help you?”

“I’m looking for Fan Xia,” Gu Jin Yi said.

The two receptionists were extremely surprised. They looked Gu Jin Yi up and down. Even with a mask on, showing only a pair of slightly red, moist eyes, Gu Jin Yi exuded an air of pitiful vulnerability.

“May I ask what business you have with President Fan?” the receptionist asked.

Gu Jin Yi lowered his head and said softly: “Just tell her, my name is Gu Jin Yi. Sister Fan, uh no, President Fan will understand.”

The two receptionists gave him a meaningful look and called Zhuang Nian.